Dialogues about a Heroic World: Rubén Darío and Valle Inclán

Abstract

Following a brief reference to theories on the hero, the article reviews the concept of the hero in Rubén Darío, particularly in Cantos de vida y esperanza. In this book —fruit of the events of 1898— the symbolic- mythical aspects of the Nicaraguan’s earlier poetry were transformed into the symbolic-heroic. Around the axis of art, his lyrical works bring together experience and metaphysics. His heroes —contemporary figures, artists from the past, saints, literary characters, etc.— act within the framework of the characteristic poetic initiation of the reader. Valle Inclán, on the contrary, creates an antihero, in accordance with the Decadence of his Sonatas and with his view of history. The future of the Hispanic world collapses, in clear opposition to the open future of Darío’s «Arielism», that can be found in short stories such as «DQ». Darío converts himself into his very own paper hero, with an enthusiasm confirmed by his letter to Eduardo Dato, and travels to America as a herald of peace.